| Qahedjet | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huni ? | |||||||||||||||||||||
 Stela of Qahedjet | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Pharaoh | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Reign | unknown | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | unknown | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Successor | Huni?Sneferu? | ||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| Dynasty | 3rd Dynasty | ||||||||||||||||||||
Qahedjet (alsoHor-Qahedjet) could be theHorus name of anancient Egyptian king (pharaoh), who may have ruled during the3rd Dynasty or could be a voluntarily archaistic representation ofThutmose III.[3] Since the only artifact attesting to the ruler and his name is a smallstela made of polishedlimestone of uncertain origin and authenticity,[4]Egyptologists are discussing thechronological position andhistorical figure of Qahedjet.
The stela of king Qahedjet is 50.5 cm high, 31.0 cm wide and 3.0 cm thick and made of finely polished limestone. It was bought in 1967 by theLouvre atParis, where it is now on display. The front shows king Qahedjet embracing ananthropomorphic form of the godHorus. King Qahedjet wears the White crown ofUpper Egypt and an artificial king's beard, and looks directly into Horus' eyes, both figures being the same height. His face looks remarkable with his crooked nose, the bulging lips and his square chin. The king wears a kilt with adagger in a belt. In his left hand, he holds amace while in his right hand he holds a staff with a wing-like mark at middle height. Horus has laid his right arm around Qahedjet's shoulder and holds Qahedjet's elbow in his left hand. The hieroglyphic inscription describes the king's visit to the northernshrine of the godRa atHeliopolis.[1][5]
The authenticity of Qahedjet's stela is questioned by Egyptologists such asJean-Pierre Pätznik andJacques Vandier. They point to several stylisticcontradictions that can be found within the relief motif. Firstly, they stress that the earliest known depiction of an anthropomorphic Horus is found in thepyramid temple ofSahure, second pharaoh of the5th Dynasty. Secondly, they argue that the motif of a king embracing a god (or a god embracing a king) would be highly unusual for theOld Kingdom, since the king was then seen as the living representation of Horus (andSeth), but not seen on a par with them in this way. Depictions showing a king in an intimate pose with a god would therefore be heretical and provocative at the same time.
Further arguments of Pätznik and Vandier concern the inscriptions right of Qahedjet'sserekh. Thehieroglyphic signs are unusually shifted to the right and they are not square in arrangement. This contradicts the Egyptian rules ofcalligraphy on royalmonuments. Additionally, the details on the owl-sign (valuem) of the stele do not appear before the first half of the18th Dynasty and the stele would represent the earliest formulationHorus + m + toponym. Finally,serekh names involving a royal crown as a hieroglyphic symbol are otherwise only known from kingThutmose III of the18th Dynasty onwards, and Pätznik and Vandier remark thatQahedjet is known to be a variant of Thutmose III's Horus name, so that the stele, if authentic, could be an archaistic work of the New Kingdom.[1]
Alternatively, the square face of Qahedjet, resembling that of king Djoser may represent an archaistic production from the much laterSaite period. During this era reliefs with clearhommages to the art of the Old Kingdom were seen as “en vogue”. As an example, Pätznik and Vandier point to anaos of Djoser found at Heliopolis (now in fragments), that shows Djoser sitting on aHebsed-throne. Djoser appears nearly identical in the reliefs of hisnecropolis atSaqqara, but a small guiding inscription reveals that the naos was built in the 7th-6th century BCE, during the Saitic period.[1]
Their last argument concerns the wordHut-a'a (meaning "great palace"), the place which Qahedjet is represented visiting. The wayHut-a'a is written on the stela is known not to be in use before the very end of the Old Kingdom and become common only from the time of kingSenwosret I of the12th Dynasty onwards. Furthermore,Hut-a'a is generally identified with the temple ofRa inHeliopolis, which is located in Lower Egypt while Qahedjet wears thecrown of Upper Egypt. On the other hand, reliefs from Djoser's pyramid complex always depict the king wearing the crown corresponding to the places he is shown visiting.
Thus, the several contradictions in the relief's artistic program make Jaques Vandier and Jean-Pierre Pätznik wonder if the stela is authentic or just a modern fake. The uncertain origins of the stela, which was acquired by the Louvre in 1967 from a private antique dealer in Cairo[4] only lends more weight to this possibility.[original research?]
Assuming its authenticity, Jacques Vandier proposed in his first study of the stele in 1968 that it be dated to the 3rd Dynasty on stylistic grounds, suggesting that Qahedjet be identified with kingHuni, the last ruler of the dynasty.Toby A.H. Wilkinson andIan Shaw are of the same opinion: they think that "Hor-Qahedjet" was theserekh name of Huni, although this assumption is only based on that Huni is the only king of this dynasty whose Horus name is unknown (the name "Huni" is acartouche name only). Thus, their theory is not commonly accepted.[6][7]
Similarly,Jürgen von Beckerath,Rainer Stadelmann andDietrich Wildung considered Qahedjet to have ruled toward the end of the 3rd Dynasty. Again, their theory is based on thestylistic resemblances between Qahedjet's face and that of kingDjoser onreliefs from hispyramid complex.[2][8]
Peter Kaplony dated the stela to theFirst Intermediate Period of Egypt.[9] Pierre Talletargued that Qadedjet is kingSnofru[10]
